In the area of dental floss, various floss implements have been developed to aid in flossing the interproximal spaces between a person's adjacent teeth. Most everyone, at one time or another, has used a dental floss as shown in FIG. 1 which is contained within a dispenser unit and includes waxed, unwaxed, or even mint flavored floss. The floss is held between the user's hands and inserted between the user's teeth to aid in removing deposits of bacterial plaque (tartar) and the like. Bacterial plaque generates acids which attack the teeth and gums, resulting in tooth decay, tender and bleeding gums, and foul smelling breath. The floss is typically moved in a sawing action between the interproximal spaces between adjacent teeth to remove debris such as food stuffs and tartar which have the tendency of building up or getting caught between the user's teeth. Removal of such deposits and tartar is essential to proper dental hygiene and can greatly reduce, if not eliminate, dental disease. The most common type of floss is contained on a spool within the aforementioned dispenser and includes a stamped metal cutting edge for removing the floss from the spool after a predetermined amount of floss has been stripped out by the user.
Improvements on the basic dental floss described above have been made, such as placing a short floss section in a holder as shown in FIG. 2A. The holder as shown in FIG. 2A is grasped by the user and used in a sawing action to remove deposits between the user's teeth. A pick is formed on one end and is used for removing larger deposits, somewhat like a tooth pick. This type of floss makes flossing easier for those who lack dexterity. Unfortunately, although both of these floss types work well for their intended applications, they can't be used by persons wearing braces or who have bridgework because the floss needs to be inserted underneath the brace or bridge in some manner. The first type can't be threaded between the user's teeth because it is simply too limp. The second can't be placed between the user's teeth because the floss section is connected to the frame at both ends.
In an attempt to solve this problem and provide a floss that can be used for brace wearers and persons with bridgework, Flossaid Corp. of San Jose, Calif., has developed the BRIDGEAID dental floss threader for guiding dental floss under bridgework and braces. U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,339 to Naslund describes this floss threading device. The device includes a deformable eye such that the eye can compress when being threaded through the interproximal spaces between the user's teeth. Although this device works adequately, it is inconvenient because the floss needs to be threaded through each dental floss threader, individually, each and every time the user wishes to floss. Furthermore, since the floss essentially has to be doubled over during this threading operation, the floss is difficult to thread through the tighter spaces between the user's teeth, i.e., because of the doubled thickness of the floss.
Oral-B Laboratories of Redwood City, Calif., has attempted to solve the same problem in a different fashion. Oral-B has developed the SUPER FLOSS dental floss, which is a flossing product which includes a short threading section and a spongy flossing section. U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,727 to Thornton describes this type of dental floss. The floss includes a section which is coated with a hardened coating which stiffens the floss slightly. It is thought that this section aids in threading the floss under braces and the like. However, the coated threading section on this device does not exhibit enough rigidity to be easily placed between the user's teeth, i.e., it is still too limp. Furthermore, it is difficult to grasp when it is wet with saliva because of its small size and lack of rigidity. Indeed, it is also difficult to find after being inserted between the user's teeth because of its small size.
In another device, which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,059 to Wells, a method of forming a continuous arrangement of dental floss articles is described. The floss device includes spaced apart sections which are coated with wax or plastic to provide a semi-rigid section which can be used as a threader. The sections of floss are dispensable from a spool contained within a dispensing container. The floss sections are cut off at the tip of the stiffened section to form a usable section. However, these devices have the disadvantage that the threaders are straight such that when the threader is inserted into the mouth, the threader has the tendency to contact the roof of the mouth. Furthermore, the device is not in a position where it can be easily grasped by the user because of the angle of insertion. Also, it is difficult to thread between the user's back teeth because of the lack of a curvature. Finally, although more convenient than individually threading each threader, the device still needs to be cut from a spool at a quite precise location.